Im curious how much the wheelie bar weighs. This last week I strapped down my rear only, left the front shocks in and noticed an incredible gain in the launching dept. I went from launching at maybe 1/2 throttle and still wheelying all over the place to launching at close to full throttle and the front maybe came up a few inches. I could not believe the difference in just doing the rear, and for that reason i decided to forgo both the fronts struts (although it looks awesome) and any sort of wheelie bar. Cant wait for the races this weekend, im going up against Mr350X in a grudge race, should be fun! Bike looks good Moose!

RoostKing...

 

What? No GPS on the handlebars?

Great pics. Good luck.

 

The wheelie bar & mount weighs about 12 LBS.
I'm looking for a GPS!! I love gadgets!![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

I got to try out my new sand drag set up this last weekend.
It launched much better with the struts! It still got on the wheelie bar but not until about 40 FT. It came out of the hole flat & fast I was .14 sec faster in my 60 Ft times.

My Reaction times took a big dump though!! 90% of the time I can cut a .450 or better reaction time (.400 is perfect) This weekend the only Reaction time I had under .520 was a .385 (red light).
I think that before I put the struts on the front end was coming up in the staging lights & that's why I was cutting a good light, Now it's coming out flat & it's killing my RT's. I guess at the next Test & tune I'm going to have to change my staging & launching procidures.

 

Nice setup there. Was your Raptor pretty new when you took the pics though, cause mine has all sorts of stress marks in the plastic. I have only had it wrong side up a few times though.

 

Actually those pics were taken when my Raptor was 8 months old!
Most of my riding is in the dunes & dragstrip but I do woods riding also.
I fliped it once at Little Sahara, it went end over end 3 times & landed on it's wheels. The only damage was a bent tie rod end (sand is much more forgiving than dirt!).
It's got a few scratches & stress marks but I polish it & put heat on the stress marks & it keeps it looking pretty good.

 

I had my second race with the struts & it was a much better weekend!!!

I figured out that without the big wheelies (the struts really keep the front down) I don't get the weight transfer that I had without the struts. The simple soultion is to sit over the rear axle instead of on the tank. This makes for a much harder & a more consistant launch. You just make sure that you sit at the same place every time, I stick my hand behind my A$$ to make sure that I'm in the same place every time.
It made a world of diffrence!!! While the big wheelies looked real cool & transfered a lot of weight it's not the best way to get down the track. with the front end that high for that long it's hard to keep the quad straight & it made the times very inconsistant, I'm talking a couple of 10ths diffrence & that's death in ET racing!!

While the July race was my worst race EVER (I went out 1st round in throphy & money), I got back in the groove this month.
I made the finals in the Throphy class, I had it won & missed a gear, ****!![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-disgusted.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-frown.gif[/img]
I got to the Semi-Finals in the money class & broke out by .002 seconds SON OF B!TCH ****!![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-disgusted.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-frown.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-disgusted.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-frown.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-disgusted.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif[/img]
Next month is the Watermelon Patch Nationals, it's the 10th aniversary of the Atoka track & I'm ready to kick some A$$ & win some big $$$$!!!

Every race (except when I missed the shift) was won by LESS than a 10th of a second, It was so close at the light that the only way I knew that I won was by seeing the win light in my lane. This is fun & exciting racing, It's more about skill than power, & a guy with a piped Raptor can win over a guy with $12,000+ quad if he's consistant & can cut a good light!